About the Artist Our cover artist, Alok Hsu Kwang-Han, has a truly adventurous spirit that has led him to motorbike through Tibet, to study and live in India, returning twenty or more times, and to travel the world with his brushes, paper and an open heart. Last year, he gave a workshop to benefit Psychological Perspectives, which was very well attended. His art is a unique blending of several traditions that evolved over decades. In his words: Since 1974 I began to paint and experiment with what I've come to call the "Creativity on Non-doing (wuwei)." I have not studied art ir painting; my higher education took place in the United States, where I obtained academic degrees in mathematics, Christian theology, sociology, and the psychology of religion. In China, my work has been that of guiding a team of six translators, editing and publishing books on meditation. In February of 1998, after 20 titles and 650,000 copies on the market, well received, the authorities closed down my work. I decided to go into the world and paint! The way these paintings happen is very Chan or Zen, and a bit dramatic! Resting in the present and moving from emptiness, often with just one spontaneous brush stroke, I would paint the inner qi or spirit of a variety of subjects -- Chan poems, jokes, the death of a woman riding a motorscooter in Taiwan, the drowning of a drug addict in the Ganges, heartful music, Japanese haikus, sayings of enlightened masters, a suggestion from the audience, the essential qualities of individuals, couples or organizations, my beloved saying, "The heart always breaks!" Artist Alok Hsu Kwang-Han generates his own ink using traditional Chinese method I view these paintings as a fresh confluence of three streams -- Chinese calligraphy, Zen spontaneity, and the evolution of Western psychotherapy, The first two streams have their deep sources om the Chinese tradition. The second and third streams are part of the contemporary world culture. I have found the wuwei, or non-doing, way of painting very healing for myself and my students. It restores the artist, if you will, to the harmony with the infinite! The artifacts of this art, the paintings, I have observed, also offer, to the present-day beholder or participant, access to what is always present -- the beauty and essence of our being human. In the near future, Alok will have a showing of his paintings in West Hollywood, California. For more information, contact the artist at alokchina@compuserve.com --Gilda Frantz On the Cover: Alok Hsu Kwang-han, Contentment being oneself (detail), Sweden, December, 1998. Chine Ink on xuan paper 68.5 cm x 33.3 cm, mounted on vertical Chinese scroll. On the back cover: Alok Hsu Kwang-han, Meditation Ecstasy (detail), Germany, September, 1998. Chine ink on xuan paper 25.7 cm x 33.2 cm, mounted on horizontal Chinese scroll.

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